In many computer applications, first data may be represented by a polygon traversing two or more dimensions of a multidimensional space, second data may be represented by a point in the same multidimensional space. The polygon may comprise a chain of segments which may represent a closed curve. Some computer applications may require determining whether the point representative of the second data lies within the polygon representative of the first data. Determining whether the point representative of the second data lies within the polygon representative of the first data finds applications in many areas including, but not limited to, dealing with the processing of geometrical data such as computer graphics, computer vision, geographical information systems (GIS), navigation systems, motion planning and/or Computer-Aided Design (CAD).
Even though a certain number of methods were developed to determine whether a point lies within a polygon, a need remains for improvements, in particular improvements aiming at using less processor resources.